At first blush, one may ask what’s the difference between industrial buildings and other types of buildings: a building is a building, isn’t it? Yes, and no. Although industrial and nonindustrial buildings can have the same facility HVACR systems (air handling, steam, chilled water, compressed air, hot water, etc.), the purpose of those systems and their relative importance varies greatly.
I like to think of commercial/institutional facilities as being built to house people, while industrial facilities are built to house processes. Although “people” requirements need to be taken care of in industrial facilities, the first and foremost purpose for the HVACR systems is to support the production process.